Safer Shampoos That Work Really Well

I’ve been on a wild, emotional, safer shampoo roller coaster over here the past few months.

Over New Years, I went two straight weeks on the no-poo train. I mean, I typically only wash my hair 1.5x to 3x times per week anyway, depending on what’s going on in my life, or how frozen I am. So I figured going cold turkey on the ‘poo wouldn’t be a big deal.

I was wrong.

Not only did I realize that I sincerely miss a good lather sesh, but I also realized that I do not enjoy the manageability level (or lack thereof) or smell of my hair, totally sans shampoo.

“There must be a better way!” I cried out to Joel from the bathroom one morning. “Yeah, it’s called just washing your hair” was his reply.

Nevertheless, I persisted.

I then spent a couple of weeks experimenting with dry shampoo, because, clearly, that must be the answer. I straight abused that stuff. And though, I have to say, I loved the magical texture and instantaneous volume it gave me, my enthusiasm was quickly deflated when I realized most dry shampoos are a total, goddamn nightmare when it comes to the ingredients.

Now you might be wondering why all the fuss about skipping shampoo in the first place, right?

I know, sorry. Let’s back up.

Bridget and I pretty serious about cutting as much junk out of our lives as possible. And our definition of ‘junk’ includes the questionable ingredients in our personal care products that mounting evidence suggests are total shit.

Ingredients like:

Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLES), which is a suspected human carcinogen.

Parabens, preservatives that are known endocrine disruptors and keep popping up in relation to breast cancer.

Phthalates, often hidden under the guise of ‘fragrance’ which are also known hormone disruptors.

Retinyl Palmitate, a synthetic oil and probable carcinogen.

And other sulfates, some of which are harmless, some of which are not.

Hence, my quest for safer shampoos.

You see, I’ve come across some lovely-looking shampoos in Whole Foods over the years that claimed to be safer. Some, like many of the natural deodorants I tried, only claimed to be safer though. Upon further inspection, they weren’t any better than Head & Shoulders. Some, just didn’t work for shit. And others, either cost way too much for a normal female human to use regularly (this isn’t GOOP, you know?) or, they just smelled funny.

But alas, I’ve found three safer shampoos that actually work and don’t cost a million dollars. (Although one is alittle pricier, but I LOVE it and it’s lasted me a long time and any safer products are just going to cost a bit more than say Suave or Pantene.)

Alright, here they are, I encourage you to give them a go. Each has a 1/Green rating from EWG’s Skin Deep app, the best source for of info on healthier personal care products and environmental toxins.